Thursday, August 11, 2005

SCOTUSBlog's Lyle Denniston has this interesting analysis of the Fourth Circuit opinion(s) in the Virginia Pledge of Allegiance case. He says, in part:

"It is impossible to get into the real motivations of the Fourth Circuit judges in writing their opinions in this case. But they no doubt were aware of the firestorm of criticism that arose after the Ninth Circuit had ruled the Pledge, as written, invalid when recited by public school students (a decision set aside by the Supreme Court's Newdow ruling). It would hardly be surprising if there was some hesitancy to kindle those still-hot embers. The federal courts now know, even more than they could see at the time of the reaction to the Ninth Circuit, how much trouble their substantive decisions on deeply controversial social issues can cause in Congress, the White House, and American politics."

The Leesburg paper has this article with quotes from Myers and AG Jagdmann.